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shaco.

ok so i recently switched from annie to shaco and im lovin the character so far.. but im having trouble deciding between attack power and ability power shaco.. can any avid shaco players enlighten me to what they they believe is better with their opinions. If there is no such thing as better for some of you guys out there, do avid shaco players mind giving me the pros and cons of each type? I just can't decide between the two.

I play AP shaco and do quite well i must say. AP beats DPS IMO because it's more viable in team fights and... more mind f^%&ing :P And Jack in the boxes can really WRECK people up believe me

Here's my build i use and do pretty good:

Chalice of Harmony(i'm getting it for good mana regen and a bit of magic resist; though if you don't like it just leave it as Meki Pendant and go straight for Nashor's)
Sorcerer's Shoes
Nashor's Tooth
Lichbane
*game usualy ends here or a bit sooner but i guess more ap(Zhonya's Ring) or a bit of survivability(Rod of Ages) or magic penetration(Abyssal Scepter/Void Staff) if other team heavly stacked this one) So it's up to you*
After level 6-8 get golem every time it's possible
Masteries will go 9/0/21 ofc.
Runes - full AP page.
Summoner spells: Heal/Teleport
Why? Heal gives you survivability you might lack as a shaco or save you in some key moments. Teleport for laning/ganking all the time(i.e. plant a jitb, blue pill and tele back to it )

Some people might choose dps over AP but still i think the AP totally WRECKS dps. Your two-shiv's will be doing insane damage, jitb's will be a nightmare to your enemies, your clone will be like a nuclear bomb and you will be spamming and using your abilities without stopping. Plus you will be more viable in team fights.
The DPS shaco isn't a bad choice though. It might be more viable in 1 on 1 fights and do some insane dmg per hit but when you'll go in team fights you might be screwed over.

AP Shaco is better for ganking and champion killing for most of the game.

Meanwhile, late-game DPS Shaco can destroy people, but the best addition is that your hallucinate benefits from your DPS stats, so you can just demolish turrets with ease.

I personally favor BDing with Shaco at every possible chance I get mid-late game, because with JitB everywhere and keeping enough mana to deceive, it's highly unlikely that the team will be able to kill me. I've had an entire team chase me for like 5mins in their forest. BDing may be frowned upon by some, but it can change the outcome of games.

For instance, I had one game recently where the game was relatively close, but I was the only one on my team pushing towers. There was one team fight late-game, where I had recently died sacrificing myself to get an inhib just before, and somehow my team completely dominated the other, leaving only one of their team alive. Instead of pushing for the win, they did baron and ended up getting slaughtered shortly after. This was very late-game, and I had farmed a ridiculous amount of gold through killing/pushing. I was able to BD their top inhib, the 2 turrets, and the Nexus Crystal before the other team was able to push ours. They had one ashe trying to defend, who I 3-4 shotted.

Yeah I know, cool story bro. Seriously though, if you aren't one who detests the idea of BDing as a viable tactic, then Shaco is amazing at it. Just deceive towards the turret, drop a JitB at it's base, pop your Ult and BD ridiculously fast. It's low-risk and high-reward if you do it right.

That's my input.

EDIT* I can't seem to find the guide I use. I build a Tiamat's first, getting the Health&Mana regen items first, with a HP potion. Putting 1 point into JitB at the start, I go kill golem. Tiamat's--> Berserker's Greavers--> Brutalizer--> Vamp Scepter (to build into Executioner's if healers, or Bloodthirster later)--> Infinity's Edge --> Last Whisper --> Build the Executioner's Calling or Bloodthirster. I've been trying to figure out when is optimal to get Sheen/Trinity Force, but that is a pretty good item for Shaco too. After the 1 in JitB at the start, Hallucinate > Two-Shiv > Deceive > JitB

physical with 1 or 2 tiamats is the way to go for me, deceive crit for 1100 in an AoE, that turns a teamfight into a chase, and that is something you can do really well, + your clone also gets the splash so that gives you about 600- 1200 aoe dmg from your clone, that wrecks people, though i wish to try an ap build with a lich sometime, probably works quite well with deceive

imho attackspeed on shaco is a complete waste, your damage comes from deceive, 2 shiv and hallucinate, if you are auto attacking, your are getting focused and thus killed, burst is what you do, blink in go for the kill, even if they dont die, run away and blink in again

Shaco has too many physical advantages NOT to go DPS. He has an ability that allows him to automatically crit, and for a bonus percent of damage to boot. And if he hits from behind it does even more bonus percent damage. And when he hallucinates he gets massively increased sustained damage output, especially as the clone will trigger all on-hit effects (Malady, Black Cleaver, Wit's End, Madred's Bloodrazor). There's a Shaco I regularly play with that can solo baron with only Berserker's Greaves, Madred's Bloodrazor, and Last Whisper, as well as being able to easily backdoor towers on his own due to the fact that Hallucinate works as a damage shield.

There are two guides off the top of my head that are most recent, one was an AP (forgot who OP was), and another DPS one by Max Pita (super sayan guide).

AP is better oriented for team battles and crowd control and does pretty well from early to late game.

DPS shaco shines the most late game but he is still someone to fear from early to mid. Max Pita's guide shows you (ofc, with practice) tips on how to get FB every time. There is also an added bonus of being able to solo Baron Nashor using hallucinate (you find the build out for yourself what works for you ^^).

Just yesterday I had a shaco on our team solo baron when everyone was totally oblivious. They were like WTF as they were walking through brushes and randomly received his buff. Good times.

Both are good, but I would say your decision really depends on your team composition. Shaco is next on my list of heroes to get, (stupid Anivia costing so **** much) and I normally don't go into a game thinking one way or another. Both have their ups and downs as described above. But to recap

AP shaco is all about jungle control/map control and simply ambushing with JitB. More of the utility character really. Go AP when you have a strong physical carry on your team, or your team is lacking in the CC department.

DPS Shaco. He can hit like a TRUCK later on. However, due to the nature of him pretty much needing an IE to start the ball rolling, you would want to go DPS when you have good CC on your team or have a strong ranged carry. (usually your solo lane being something like Annie). Work to compliment your team but either build works great for Shaco.